Sony Admits PlayStation Move Has Not Been Up To Par

The PlayStation Move has been touted as the more accurate Wii Remote clone. Sony fans would say that its reception was not too bad but not exactly great either. Maybe the answer is that the motion controls were really a fad.

Since Playstation Move’s launch back in 2010, Sony says it has managed to ship 10.5 million of its Move controllers globally -navigational controllers included. Of course, this is the only number we got from Sony, which has left analysts questioning the number of units sold or, worse, sitting on retail shelves in large quantities or taking up precious warehouse space.

Compare that figure to the number of Kinect Microsoft has sold — over 10 million — and the PlayStation Move looks more like a latecomer to the motion control gaming world.

In our own motion control shootout which we posted back in 2010, the Move hardware was a solid competitor and much more accurate than the Wii Remote or Kinect. Unfortunately, its main problem is a lack of game support.

In the early Move days there was Sports Champions, SOCOM 4, Resistance 3 and Killzone 3, but outside of those initial launch titles and the recent GoldenEye 007: Reloaded, the lineup has been lackluster. To date, the Move-heavy Sorcery has yet to reach the stores.

Last Saturday, Sony Computer Entertainment UK’s new managing director Fergal Gara said that “[Sony] could have done a better job on the titles.” He went on to say that Move might be better off relegated to being a casual market option.

So where are all the games? Sorcery is only one piece that hopes to give the Move its momentum but is it too late? Gamers deserve more.

This may bring up an interesting discussion on the podcast over whether additional peripherals are sustainable. You see, unlike the Move or Kinect, which were essentially responses to the success of the Wii’s motion controls, Nintendo built its Wii console completely around the Wiimote, making its controls central to the experience. Nintendo intends to strike twice and repeat its success with the Wii U and its new tablet controller.

When the Wii Remote was first unveiled, Nintendo extended the gaming audience passed their controller counterparts. I can recall Shigeru Miyamoto in earlier E3s saying something along the lines of “The Wii Remote will be the new industry standard.” So when Sony jumped on with the Move, it validated Miyamoto’s predictions.

With the Wii U extending the motion detecting Wii Remotes with a touchscreen, are we moving backwards? Or is motion control still a fad that has yet to catch on to the hardcore minds. I beg to differ and pin the game creators as the reason for not making the games a standout piece of the new motion control experience.

It’s not just the lack of software support but the fundamental design of the Move controllers are flawed. Many of the buttons on a standard PS3 controller are unavailable on the Move and there’s not even a button-mapped substitute. Where are the L1, L2, R1, R2 buttons?? And why does the Select button only attempt to recalibrate the controller? I need the Select button to function as the Select button in several of the Move games I’ve played.

And don’t even get me started on the fact that over the course of a 1-hour session the controllers tend to jump off calibration where I will be pointing the controller at the ceiling and the cursor is at the bottom of the screen. The Move was a rushed product trying to compete directly with the lost dollars Sony saw going to Nintendo. The end result is an afterthought that doesn’t meet the need to either the hardcore or casual crowd.

http://twitter.com/lazytechguys Lazy Tech Guys

Those are valid points. And yes, the Playstation Move does hate tall people. Or at least people close to the camera.

Monthly Archives

Monthly Archives

About LAZYTECHGUYS

LazyTechGuys' is an online tech site that brings fresh and irreverent perspective to the ever changing landscape of technology. Our original content is formatted in conversational media and provides answers to those who've been spiritually crippled by the crashing of their favorite devices or the burden of providing information to the technically challenged.